"Death and Taxes"

The story goes that Daniel Caesar left his family home in the suburbs of Toronto, in part, over a crisis of faith. And, at least on the surface, there’s nothing antagonistic in his respite. Raised in a religious family, the son of a gospel singer, Caesar’s music—particularly last year’s stunning Praise Break EP—incorporates the divine harmonies and soaring vocals of contemporary gospel acts like Kirk Franklin and the Gaither Vocal Band, as well as the brooding, existential folk of Jeff Buckley. It's a slow, contemplative push back at obedient worship and theological rigor.

On "Death & Taxes", from the Pilgrim’s Paradise EP, Caesar deconstructs this process with clear-eyed devastation: “Surely my sins have found me out/ God rest my soul, but show me out/ Spit on my grave but kiss my mouth.” Producers Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans (who cultivated a similar magnitude out of minimalism on Drake’s “Pound Cake”, with Boi-1da) let Caesar tell his story. His voice, which blooms and flickers like the borealis, lifts on the optimistic hook and crescendoes above a tangle of blues guitar, bass, and the thick slap of drums. That lingering calm sounds like a crisis deferred; it sounds like contentment.